A select group of undergraduates and graduate students at UC Merced are researching health topics in a unique but “unfortunate” laboratory. The students are studying an array of topics related to health disparities, and the lab is the community of Merced. It is an unfortunate laboratory, UC professors say, because of the prevalence of diseases and chronic conditions such as diabetes, high blood pressure, obesity and asthma. That and the unique ethnic and racial profile of Merced makes the community ideal for studying health disparities. The study is part of the university’s Center of Excellence for the Study of Health Disparities in Rural and Ethnic Underserved Populations, funded by the National Institutes of Health.

Edna Marie Medeiros chokes up talking about how Season of Sharing – The Chronicle’s annual giving campaign – helped her move to a larger apartment so her son Antonio could have his own room while recovering from a kidney transplant at UC San Francisco.

Jennifer Deshaies went to a prenatal doctor’s appointment in Redding in August. She knew her baby had medical problems, but she was in disbelief when they told her it was so severe she’d be taken by ambulance to UC Davis Medical Center. “I said, ‘Shut up,’ ” Deshaies recalled. A few minutes later they said, no, she wasn’t going by ambulance. She was going to be flown by airplane. Deshaies has been in Sacramento since. Needless to say, she didn’t have time to collect her belongings to bring with her. After Erica Zipora Hope Chilton was born at the medical center by Caesarean section Aug. 17, Deshaies moved to Kiwanis Family House – a facility for patients and families at the medical center who don’t have a place to stay in Sacramento.

Kaiser Permanente opened the doors to its new sports medicine center in Elk Grove earlier this month, a first for the health network in Northern California and the latest entry in an increasingly competitive market. The UC Davis Health System for years has been a local leader in the field. with expertise in exercise physiology, nutrition, orthopedics and sports psychology. While Kaiser’s sports medicine center is the newest on the sports medicine block, UC Davis’ midtown Sacramento facility at 28th and J streets remains the largest under one roof in the area. It consists of approximately 7,000 square feet for its lab and clinic areas, plus an additional 947 square-foot biomechanics lab. The facility is staffed by a dozen physicians and sports medicine experts in specialties from biomechanics to nutrition and sports physiology.

If everyone in the United States added just one healthy habit, it might prevent or delay a million cases of Alzheimer’s disease that would otherwise be expected to occur over five years, says psychiatrist Gary Small, MD, director of the UCLA Longevity Center. Research hasn’t yet proved that lifestyle changes can ward off the disease, he says in his new book, “The Alzheimer’s Prevention Program” (Workman, $24.95) — “but if you read the small print, the evidence is compelling.” With the oldest baby boomers reaching their mid-60s, when Alzheimer’s risk starts to climb, we asked him what changes matter most.

Despite their best intentions to avoid such conflicts, environmentalists often end up squaring off against those who say protection measures deny them jobs or other resources. Perhaps nowhere is this debate more heated than when it comes to Africa, whether the issue is malaria vs. DDT or GMOs vs. the precautionary principle. Among the most incendiary topics of all is starving children, and how environmental policies may be affecting them. At first glance, a study released today from researchers at UC Berkeley may seem to pile fuel on the fire, although News Watch spoke with one of the study’s authors, who urged a thoughtful and measured response.

A male turkey was left running around last week with an arrow in his posterior after being shot by an unknown archer. On Friday, he was captured by the state Department of Fish and Game and brought to the William R. Pritchard Veterinary Teaching Hospital, part of the UC Davis School of Medicine, where the arrow was safely removed and the turkey was later released.

One Response to “In the media: Week of Nov. 21”

It’s great to see that in this economy the UCD hospital can actually increase their profits. I would never have guessed given the constantly rising health care costs but hopefully whatever they are doing can be used as a blueprint for other University of California hospitals around the state. In these troubled times our universities need all the help they can get!